


Hard Fought Peace

by Diary



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Aiden & Allison Argent, Alive Allison Argent & Vernon Boyd & Erica Reyes, Allison Argent & Isaac Lahey Friendship, Allison Argent & Lydia Martin Friendship, Allison Argent & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Allison Argent-centric, Awesome Allison Argent, Awesome Lydia Martin, Awkward Conversations, Bechdel Test Pass, Canon Character of Color, Condoms, F/M, Family, Forgiveness, Gen, Interracial Relationship, Late Night Conversations, Love, Minor Heather/Stiles Stilinski, POV Allison Argent, Past Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Post-Season/Series 02 AU, Redemption, Romance, Sharing a Bed, Vernon Boyd & Isaac Lahey & Erica Reyes Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 23:09:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6133339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Repost. Boyd and Erica survive the alphas. Allison's POV. Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hard Fought Peace

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Teen Wolf.

The fact she eats normally worries her.

It’s not quite numbness she feels, but in France, everything is oddly normal.

She’s never been particularly religious, but she does believe in God. She finds herself praying she never hurts people in such a way again. She asks for help in making peace with what Derek and her mother both did; she’ll never forgive either, she knows, but others shouldn’t suffer.

Her dad worries, but she can’t bring herself to do much to soothe it. Neither particularly wants to talk about Beacon Hills or her mother, and she finds herself gritting her teeth when he tries to spoil her or express his pride in her.

 _I shot electricity through a girl who used to suffer from epilepsy, Dad_ , she doesn’t say. _I shot arrows, one after another, at a boy who was just trying to protect his friend, even as she begged me to stop; he didn’t even try to attack me. I stabbed a boy who got in my way. What is there to be proud of? Please, stop trying to make me happy. I don’t want to be happy. I want to figure out how to prevent this from ever happening again._

Summer passes both too quickly and too slowly.

“Sweetheart, do you want to go back to Beacon Hills? I know that you and Lydia are very close.”

She almost says no.

Lydia’s mostly gotten over Jackson and doesn’t need her anymore, and Beacon Hills has Scott, Isaac Lahey, and Derek Hale. It’s where her mother died. It’s where she tortured two classmates.

 _This could be a chance to make things right_ , part of her says.

“If we go back, I won’t date Scott, but I don’t want you going after him or the others.” Taking a deep breathe, she adds, “Including Derek.”

“That’s fair,” he says. “I think it would be best if we both stayed out of all of that. I can restart my consulting business, and you can have the normal life your mother and I never gave you.”

“Dad-”

Reaching over, he pulls her into a hug. “It’s the truth, Allison. We made our choices. We all did. Now, we need to- live with them.”

Anger bubbles inside her, and closing her eyes, she focuses on his arms around her.

…

Lydia taps her foot, and Allison stifles a giggle at the pleading look her dad shoots her.

“I’m sorry, but don’t you want the best for your daughter? How she is supposed to learn the art of selecting appropriate china if you don’t-”

“My mom did all the decorating,” Allison breaks in.

Giving her a sympathetic look, Lydia squeezes her hand. “Still, it’s an important skill to have. Luckily, I designed a perfect quiz for-”

“Really,” her dad interrupts, and it strikes her he’d be less scared and desperate if Peter’s bite had transformed Lydia into a werewolf, “I think that you girls can do the shopping by yourselves.”

“We can have a girls’ day out,” Allison suggests. “You can fill me on how everyone is doing.”

“Yes, that’s a good idea,” Lydia says. “However, Mr Argent, I hope you understand that you had your chance for input and choose to opt out. And also that, since we’re going through all the hard work of selecting this stuff, you will be expected to help us set it up.”

“Of course. Have fun girls.” Kissing her, he says, “Be careful, sweetheart. I love you.”

“I love you, Dad."

…

Once they get into the car, she immediately declares, “We’re not talking about Scott.”

Lydia sighs. “We will eventually. In the meantime, tell me everything about France. And by everything, I mean the-”

Boys, her mind supplies with a touch of exasperation and fear. “France is over. Tell me what’s been happening in Beacon Hills.”

“Not much. I couldn’t convince the idiots at the local college to let me do dual credit until the school semester actually starts, but they couldn’t stop me from auditing.”

“Did the professors love or hate you?”

“The non-idiots loved me, naturally.”

She smiles. “Naturally."

“I did find Intro to Western Theology unsettling. It had more of an emphasis on the philosophical rather than the specific details, but it expanded my horizons.”

“I’ll have to look into that,” she says.

“I’d definitely recommend Professor De Luca,” Lydia says, and Allison lets her description of being an almost-college student wash over her.

…

“One of my classes was cancelled when they thought they’d found Erica Reyes’s body -Professor Nelson is good friends with her dad-, but it turned out to be a runaway from one of the nearby towns.”

Carefully setting down the china plate, she clears her throat. “Erica’s still missing?”

“She and Boyd both.” Lydia hands her a different plate. “Derek and Isaac have been looking all summer. I think Stiles might have been helping, but once he-who-mustn’t-be-named left, I had no reason to care.”

She remembers the tears in their eyes. She remembers, _please, Allison_. She remembers her vow to kill them when she found they had escaped.

At the time, she told herself they deserved it. They tried to kill Lydia, they hurt Scott, and their alpha had taken her mother away.

“Do they think they might still be here,” she asks.

“Apparently, some rival werewolf pack is around. Derek insists they kidnapped them. Why would anyone want them? Isaac’s close to Scott and Derek, which would automatically make him a better bargaining chip, and Jackson was once a killer lizard. If they were smart, they would have taken him and subjected him to various experiments,” she declares.

Then, she holds up two plates. “Now, what do you think?”

Allison points to one and thinks, Promise or not, if they’re here, I have to help find them. Please, let me find them alive.

…

Seeing Scott at school feels like a literal punch to the gut, and she takes a deep breath.

 _We need to talk_ , she writes.

He might insist it’s not her fault (she gave them every reason to run), but she knows he’ll help her.

…

When class is over, she and Scott sit on the bleachers.

“Are you okay?"

“I’m fine.”

“I’ve been looking for them,” he says. “Derek- he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Deaton’s been helping me.”

“I’m going to, too,” she says.

He smiles. “Do you- I mean, you don’t have to, don’t need to, but Isaac and I have sort of been talking, and if you wanted to-”

“Yes. Yes, I’d like to talk to him. If he’ll talk to me.”

“He will.” He squeezes her hand.

The bell rings, and she hurries away.

…

She and Lydia have separate lunches.

When she and Scott sit down next at Isaac’s table, he starts to get up, but Scott grabs his wrist. “Isaac, just give her a chance. Let her talk.”

Isaac stills, and Scott lets go.

Concentrating on his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Isaac refuses to look at either of them.

It’s what the cafeteria is required to provide to students who don’t qualify for financial aid but don’t bring lunch money, and she wonders if he just got an unusually unsympathetic cafeteria worker who refused to let him charge or if Derek is to blame.

Derek has plenty of money (courtesy of Kate killing more than half of his family) and has no business taking a teenage boy in if he’s not even going to make sure some of the money goes towards Isaac’s lunch.

Just say, ‘I’m sorry,’ a harsh part of her commands. 

“Scott,” she finds herself saying instead, “trade me your peanut butter cup for my strawberry Jell-O.”

To her surprise, his package of Reese’s disappears into his pocket. “Sorry.”

Before she can react (he doesn’t even like them; he trades Stiles for them because he knows she’ll trade him), he says to Isaac, “She loves peanut butter.”

“I’ll trade you,” Isaac says.

Jumping, she looks over

Only barely looking at her, he holds the uneaten half of his sandwich out.

“That’s not much of a trade,” she offers. “Jell-O isn’t as filling as a sandwich.”

“I’m sick of peanut butter and jelly."

Wordlessly pushing her Jell-O over, she wonders if he’s been eating them for months because they’re easy to make. Remembering being in the Lahey basement and seeing the terrible sight of bloody scratches inside the freezer, she wonders if he tries to avoid other such appliances. She doesn’t know if Scott’s told him, but if not, she wonders if telling him how Scott mostly destroyed it, and then, they tossed it into the river, would help him.

“Sorry,” she offers.

Finally, he looks her fully in the eye. “For the sandwiches, or for what you did to me, Boyd, and Erica?”

Refusing to break eye contact, she answers, “For all of it.”

“Isaac talked to Lydia,” Scott says.

When she looks back over, Isaac is concentrating on his Jell-O. “About what?"

“About trying to kill her,” he answers.

“She didn’t tell me.”

“It doesn’t change anything,” he replies.

“I can help find Boyd and Erica.”

“She won’t hurt them,” Scott says. “And she has a lot of skills we could use.”

“No,” Isaac says.

He leaves.

…

Kill, kill, kill, is the only thing going through her mind when Peter Hale opens the door to Derek’s loft.

In France, she never gave any thought to the fact the monster responsible for killing Kate right in front of her and making Lydia mentally unstable was back alive.

“Ah, Allison,” he says, and she digs her nails into her palm. “If my nephew is determined to foolishly risk his life, I suppose he could do much worse than enlisting-”

Peter’s pulled away from the door.

“Derek,” Isaac calls. To her, he says, “Come in.”

Derek appears.

She remembers reading a self-help book saying repressing emotions is usually unhealthy, but sometimes, it’s necessary to tamper down an emotional response, push everything away, and focus on the situation at hand. Then, later, the emotions should be dealt with.

“Peter,” Derek says.

Nodding, Peter smiles at her (all she can see is claw marks across Kate’s neck) and leaves.

“What,” Derek asks.

“I can help you.”

“We don’t need help.”

“We might need help,” Isaac interjects.

As Derek glares, Isaac fidgets. “We think they’re in a bank. I don’t remember it, but I called Derek and told him that I was going to check out this abandoned bank.” He gives her the name.

“Something happened, and this girl saved me. She- she was badass,” he tells her with his eyes shining slightly.

She bites down the giggle and indulgent smile she can feel trying to break free.

“But the alphas –the pack, it’s made of them- did something to my memory.”

She doesn’t bother asking how a pack of alphas even works. “How can I help?”

“We need Scott,” Derek answers.

Before she can fully build up her indignation, he continues, “I can’t take on a pack of alphas. We don’t know what all they did to Isaac. There’s a chance he’d be worthless in a fight against them.”

“Thanks,” Isaac says.

“I didn’t mean it like that. And Peter, aside from being untrustworthy, is still the weakest of the four of us.”

“I’ll talk to Scott, but only if you agree to let me actually help. I’m human, and even with my training, I probably couldn’t go up against these alphas alone. But I can help.”

…

In Derek's loft, she only feels a little guilty for the lie she told her father about studying with Lydia.

“Okay, here’s the blueprints I found online.” Stiles spreads them out. “Now, it’s probably best if Allison and Isaac go through the front door. Once we find the right tools, Derek and Scott can go in through-”

Derek interrupts, and when he punches Stiles’s hand, she looks at Scott in concern, but Isaac tugs his sleeve, catches her eye, and shakes his head at both of them.

Sure enough, it’s not long before Stiles is saying, “Okay, so, after everyone is in, I was thinking we should…”

…

Out of all the ways they discussed this could go wrong, a shadowy figure with a handful of mountain ash is probably the one thing Stiles didn’t plan for, she reflects.

Isaac goes after the figure.

In the vault, Boyd and Erica advance on Scott and Derek, and she quickly kneels down to break the seal.

“No! Don’t break it,” Derek orders.

She hesitates.

No, she tells herself.

She yells, “Boyd, Erica,” as her hands spread the ash.

Rushing out, the two easily bypass her.

Derek grabs her.

“She just saved our lives!”

Focusing on Scott’s voice, she takes a long breath and rubs her wrists. “I’m not the one turning teenagers into killers."

If he cares so little about his own life, she won’t pretend she cares more, but she’s not going to let him take Scott along with him. She’s not going to be responsible for letting Erica and Boyd, who suffered torture rather than give him up, have to live with his blood on their hands. She’s not going to let his blood divide them from Isaac.

“No, that’s just the rest of your family."

“I made mistakes,” she acknowledges. “Gerard is not my fault.”

She expects him to call her on the lie. It might be true, but she doubts she’ll ever believe it. She knew who he was, what he had done and was doing, and because she couldn’t deal with her pain appropriately, she found herself manipulated.

“Then, what about your mother,” he demands.

“What do you mean?”

Calm, Allison, she tells herself. She tries to push memories of her mother’s dead body away. Think of your father. Think of Erica and Boyd. Think of Scott. Think of who you want to be.

He turns to Scott. “Tell her, Scott.”

She can see something important in Scott’s eyes. “What does he mean, Scott?”

…

In the car, Scott tells her, “The night of the rave. Your mom- she ran over me, and she dragged me to this room. It had wolfsbane.” He takes a breath, and she instinctively reaches over to lace their fingers together. “She was going to make it look like an asthma attack.”

“She tried to kill you.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, and she wants to laugh at how completely absurd and wrong it is for him to be apologising for someone trying to kill him. “I knew Derek was nearby, and I howled. I didn’t think he’d-”

“He saved you,” she says.

Does her father know? Has he been keeping this from her? Or is he just as ignorant as she was?

Wolfsbane. She’s seen its effects.

All this time, she’d thought Derek had cornered her mother somewhere and bit her as a pre-emptive strike, a declaration of war. What if the bite had been accidental? What if it had been a choice between biting her to temporarily incapacitate her or outright killing her? 

She’s still dead because of him, an angry part of her protests.

Her stomach hurts, and the feeling of Scott’s fingers are suddenly making her skin crawl.

“Go help them.” She withdraws her hand. “I just- I need to be alone.”

“Will you be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” she promises. “I just need some time.” Leaning over, she kisses his cheek. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

…

Knowing she can’t sit in her car all night, she makes plan to sneak into the penthouse and grab the equipment she’ll need.

…

After she tracks them to the school, there’s a brief moment of panic when she sees her dad, but it’s replaced by something more complicated when she realises he’s working with Scott, Derek, and Isaac.

Now isn’t the time, she reminds herself.

Climbing on a bus, she sees Isaac trying and failing to herd the two inside the building. Readying her bow, she murmurs, “Close your eyes, Isaac.”

He doesn’t listen, but unlike them, he quickly adapts to the flashing arrows.

Despite her blindness, Erica lashes out towards the bus.

Allison aims so the arrow will nick Erica’s arm.

Covering his eyes, Boyd makes his way to Erica and pulls her into the school.

Isaac quickly closes and locks the door. Then, he looks up her and gives her the same look he had when he talked about his mysterious saviour.

Ignoring his offered hand, she slides down. “What’s the plan?”

“Boiler room,” he answers.

“Both of them? Together?”

“Just until the sun comes up,” he answers. “They’ll go back to normal, then.”

“Are you planning on knocking them out?”

He edges away. “No. They won’t be able to hurt anyone.”

“Isn’t there a concern of them turning on each other or hurting themselves?”

It only takes a second before he’s letting out a stream of curses and running around the building.

“Good going, Dad,” she mutters. “I’d expect this from Derek, and maybe Scott, but you?”

…

When the sun comes out, she watches everyone leave.

Her dad carries a twitching but unconscious Erica out.

Barely holding a heavily bleeding Derek up, Scott and Isaac come out, and her stomach clenches.

Aside from the fact Derek is still alive and conscious, the two showed no mercy, and she’s not sure him still being alive wasn’t a case of him being slightly stronger rather than any instinctual restraint on their parts.

Finally, her dad and Scott drag Boyd out.

They put the three in Derek’s van, her dad gets behind the wheel, and Isaac and Scott take Scott's bike.

…

At lunch, she sits down. “Trade with me.”

Isaac looks up in surprise.

She holds out her bologna, mustard, and sweet pickle sandwich. Making it was an unpleasant task, but according to Scott, Isaac would sell his soul for a lifetime supply of them.

He looks at her suspiciously.

“You’re not going to find anyone willing to taste-test it for you,” she teases. “But I promise it doesn’t have poison.”

Pushing his sandwich over, he accepts hers with adoration for it in his eyes.

“Listen, did you tell the others? About me being there?”

“No,” he answers. “It’s best for everyone if we avoid you and your dad.”

“Is that your opinion or Derek’s?”

“Both,” he answers.

She wordlessly hands him a napkin. He ignores in it favour of sticking his tongue out and trying to lap the food on his face up.

“I do get it,” he says. “Your mom died, and you couldn’t handle it. You did stupid things and hurt other people. Now, you’ve done your good deed, and you can feel better about yourself. That doesn’t change anything, though, does it? He’s still a hunter, you can still hunt, and an alpha still bit your mom.”

“Is your dad why you did all the things you've done? Like trying to kill Lydia?”

“No,” he answers.

…

She sees Isaac arrive at school on the back of Scott’s bike.

When she talks to Scott about it, he sighs.

“Derek kicked him out. He’s staying with us.”

“Derek kicked him out,” she repeats.

“He said that he thought he smelled blood at the loft, but Derek refused to answer any of his questions. Worse, I get the feeling, that Derek hurt him somehow. I mean, beyond kicking him out. Did you know that most days, he had to walk to the bus stop and ride it? What does Derek have that kept him from picking Isaac up and dropping him off?”

As she tries to figure out what to say to comfort him without turning this into an excuse to vent, he says, “Sorry. I don’t mean to bother you with this.”

She frowns. “Scott, I’ve told you before that you don’t need to protect me. But more than that, whatever happens with us, I do love you, and I want to be there for you when you need someone.”

“You shouldn’t have to-”

“Just like you shouldn’t have to worry about me and try to make sure I’m always okay,” she interrupts.

He gives her an adorably conceding look. “I know you’ve been going through hell, Allison.”

“I was. And I should have gone to you or Lydia or Stiles instead of turning to Gerard. But right now, I’m- I’m not exactly better, but I’m in a better place, at least.”

“I glad,” he says. “And I’ll try to let you in more, if you’ll do the same.”

“Okay. Want me to walk you to class?”

“I’d like that.”

…

As they’re walking, he pauses.

“What’s wrong?"

“Oh, crap,” he mutters. “Stay here.”

Rushing after him, she pauses when she comes across the scene.

Erica and Boyd are back.

Erica and Boyd are back, and they’re fighting identical twin boys Allison’s seen around school a few times. Lydia’s determined to make one of them her latest conquest, and she’s seen Danny stumble over his own feet around one of them (hopefully not the one Lydia wants).

The fact they’re werewolves is a bigger concern than the school’s most popular out boy and the slowly returning queen bee potentially becoming romantic rivals, she realises.

Quickly closing the door, she nods to Scott.

Shifting, he immediately gets between Erica and one of the twins.  

Wishing she’d brought her crossbow or, at least, her Chinese ring daggers, she grabs a nearby ruler, forces herself in between Boyd and the other twin, puts her hand on Boyd’s chest, and uses the twin’s surprise to push him against the wall and jam the ruler against his throat.

She’s slammed into a desk by the twin, and through the pain, she sees Boyd moving across the room.

“Get them,” Erica declares. She slashes Scott’s cheek when he tries to restrain her.

Carefully standing, Allison grabs the discarded ruler.

Focus, focus, she tells herself.

“Erica, Boyd, not here,” Scott is insisting. 

The door opens, and as she tries to keep her body steady, she hears, “Ethan, Aiden.”

Everyone pauses at the presence of Ms Morrell in the doorway.

There’s a growl, and Erica is free from Scott’s grasp and about to attack Morrell, but Boyd grabs her.

Allison realises several slashes on his arms aren’t healing, and she curses herself for not paying more attention to the twin’s red eyes.

 _What would your father do_ , she remembers.

Better yet, if I became like Scott, what would I do, she ponders.

“Smart boy,” Morrell comments.

Allison wants to protest –since when does the school guidance counsellor know about all of this-, but Scott is holding her, and suddenly, the pain isn’t near as bad.

“I suggest everyone get to class,” Morrell says with a nod to the twins.

They follow her out.

“You can’t do that here,” Scott snaps.

Aside from the scratches on Boyd’s arm, they both look better than she’s seen them in a long time, but it’s still painful to look at them.

Erica has a look in her eyes.

It’s a look she’s seen often in her own reflection. It's a look of unbridled anger and determination.

Boyd looks even more haunted than he did when she had them in the basement; he looked angrier, then. However, they’re both standing strong and unafraid, and however strong their emotions, their human side is propelling them.

“Morrell’s working with the alphas,” Boyd says. He lets Erica go. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“Isaac told me that they could merge together,” Scott protests. “Taking them on here, at school-”

Erica starts to say something, and then, her eyes land on Allison.

Before Allison can say anything, Erica grabs Boyd’s hand, and they’re both out of the classroom.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he promises. “I’m more worried about them. The twins might have provoked them, but Erica and Boyd attacked first.”

…

After Mrs Winters dismisses the class early, she and Lydia wait by their lockers for the next bell to ring. “Could I borrow some money? I need to buy lunch today.”

She’d made another disgusting sandwich, but Mrs McCall had made lunches for both Isaac and Scott. She doubts she’s going to find anyone else willing to trade.

“No problem. Oh, hey, Stiles!"

Coming over, he says, “Hey, Lydia, Allison." Frowning, he shifts his bathroom pass from hand to hand. “Have either of you seen Boyd? Or Erica? Scott told me about what happened earlier, and now, he’s missing algebra. I don’t know what class she has, but if he’s not with her-”

“She’s not in English,” Isaac says.

She’s suddenly glad she doesn’t have any of her weapons, and reminding herself of his newfound tentative nature around her, she stops herself from snapping about sneaking up. Then, she sees he doesn’t have a bathroom pass and considers asking if he’s outright skipping.

“I haven’t seen either of them all day,” Lydia says.

“I haven’t seen them since earlier,” she realises aloud.

“If the twins hurt them, I’m going to kill them,” Isaac says with his claws appearing.

She grabs him when he starts to turn. “It’s best if we find them together.”

Isaac and Lydia both look as if they want to argue, and Allison almost amends Lydia doesn’t need to be part of this, but Stiles speaks up. “She’s right. You can find them on your own, but if they’re in a death battle, Allison can help, Lydia can scream, and I can- well, I can be there. Doing something. Improvisation is a strong suit, that given the fact I’m not dead, it’s safe to say it’s worked pretty well in the past. Maybe not as well as I’d-”

“Let’s just find them,” Isaac interrupts.

…

They find them, and Allison desperately thinks the idea of slowly backing out and pretending they didn’t is for the best.

Boyd’s jeans are around his ankles is the first thing her mind processes.

The second thing she notices is there’s a pair of white underwear (not Boyd’s blue boxers, which, she thanks God, he still has on) near the door.

Erica’s on a desk with her back against the wall and her arms locked around Boyd.

She quickly looks away.

Stiles is trying and failing not to check out one or both of the lovebirds, and she pinches him before grabbing Isaac’s free hand.

She doesn’t think he’s going to be coaxed into removing his other hand and opening his eyes until he’s several miles away.

Lydia loudly clears her throat, and Allison is disturbed by the thought of, _If they want to kill her this time, maybe I can help._

The two still, and as they look over, both Boyd’s hands settle on Erica’s waist without, to Allison’s relief, making it obvious where they appeared from. “First earlier, and now this,” Erica snarls. “If someone steals my lunch, I’m killing you all!”

Before anyone can say anything, Lydia is marching over and pulling Boyd’s pants up and, Allison realises, going through his pockets. As he zips and buttons his jeans, she goes through his wallet.

Allison quickly tries to take it from her.

However, Lydia tosses it aside, and before anyone can stop her, puts her hands in the pockets on Erica’s shirt.

Allison catches her when Erica violently shoves her away.

“I don’t see a purse,” Lydia announces before beginning to rifle through her own. 

Stiles slams his eyes shut when Erica walks over to the door, smirks at him, and picks up the underwear. As she’s putting them back on (giving Allison no warning to turn her head), Lydia withdraws a package of condoms.

“You two need to be responsible,” Lydia declares. She puts two in Boyd’s wallet. Then, she hands him two more. “Put them in separate pockets.”

Lydia is the most awesome girl I know, once again flashes through her head.

Lydia holds four out to Erica. “Put two in your purse.”

“We weren’t planning on going that far,” Erica informs her. Nevertheless, she accepts them. “And this is none of your business.”

“Sweetie, you were locked in a vault for four months. You got out a week ago. Unless you had an IUD before you were captured, the likelihood you’re on any currently effective contraception is slim. Moreover, ‘plan’ is the keyword. You and your boyfriend tried to kill me, and you’re in a pack with Peter Hale. I have little in the way of warm feelings towards either of you, but teenagers’ having the right to enjoy their sexuality without potentially life-alerting consequences is something I deeply believe in on every level. Personally, politically, societally, and ethically. Be smarter.”

Boyd has gotten over to the door without making a sound (did they have this ability as humans? She knows Derek has never been human), and Allison can tell by the look he’s giving Erica he’s hopelessly in love.

Erica pockets the condoms, reaches out, and takes his hand. They share a chaste kiss before turning and leaving without another word.

…

“Can I talk to you?”

Boyd doesn’t look up from his surprisingly elaborate lunch.

“If you say no, I’ll leave.”

He makes a vague motion with his hand.

She takes it as invitation to sit down. “Erica doesn’t have first period lunch?”

Even with him looking down, she still catches the glint of yellow in his eyes. “I know saying ‘sorry’ isn’t enough. I wouldn’t be able to forgive someone who hurt me like I hurt you and her. But I am sorry.”

Finally, he looks up. “Then, stay out of our way. We’ll leave you and your friends and family alone if you leave us alone.”

This strikes her as unquestionably reasonable, but she knows he’s including what happened earlier in it. “I’m sorry for walking in on the two of you the second time, but Boyd, you have to know how stupid it was for the two of you to try to take on two alphas all by yourself.”

“Stupid,” he repeats, and she inwardly winces at her word choice. “You weren’t there.”

“I’m not saying you don’t have a right to be angry. I’m not saying they don’t need to be stopped. But killing them, going after them on your own, there are better ways to-”

“I don’t trust you or Scott, and I have doubts about Derek and the others.”

She considers which tactic might work best.

As long as they don’t hurt innocents, she’ll agree she has no right to intrude in their lives. Except, and this is where they’ll no doubt bitterly challenge her, she can’t let them get themselves killed.

“Hey,” Isaac says. He sits down

Brightly coloured clothes that can be seen in the peripheral vision, she considers.

Automatically, Boyd pushes the food over, and Isaac looks at it with undisguised excitement. Then, to her surprise, something sadder crosses his face, and he looks up. “Erica isn’t sleeping?”

“No,” is the terse answer.

“Erica’s a great cook,” Isaac informs her. “She loves it, uh, but she can, uh, also use it as a way to cope.”

“Maybe you should save some for Boyd,” she suggests.

It hits her how much she truly doesn’t know about any of them.

She has a vague memory of Erica happily telling someone about some home ec. assignment, but not many details of the memory stands out. She knows Boyd has written a bunch of reports on Arthurian folklore for English. She knew about Isaac’s dad and the fact he used to work as a gravedigger, but she doesn’t even know if he still has the job or not.

“No,” Boyd says. “I’m not hungry.”

“I’ll leave you two alone,” she says.

…

After school, she finds Erica and Boyd stalking through her apartment complex.

“Hey,” she greets.

Erica continues walking without acknowledging her, but Boyd looks at her. “Deucalion and the twins live in the penthouse above you.”

She quickly ducks into the apartment, gets the necessary stuff, and finds them just before they get on an elevator.

“Wait!”

They both look at her, and the elevator closes.

Making an unpleasant noise accompanied by an even harsher look, Erica pushes the button.

“What’s the plan? You don’t have any weapons, do you? Three against two isn’t-”

“Shut up,” Erica hisses. “This isn’t your concern, and we’re not going to listen to you.”

She’s not sure where her beliefs in Hell lie, but after hunting them down and torturing them, acknowledging the wrongness of such actions, and then, still, tossing wolfsbane in their faces, handcuffing them, and dragging them throughout the thankfully empty hallways, she has a deep, unsettling fear she might end up there.

...

She’s in the kitchen fixing some lemon tea when she hears, “Allison!”

“I had a good reason this time!” Some part of her realises exactly how this sounds, and another part can’t even fathom how it does. “Dad, I swear- This looks bad, but it was necessary.”

Erica has remained disturbingly quiet since Allison cleared the living room of all but the furniture, chained them to the coffee table with the chains she’s used on Scott during the full moon, and poured a circle of mountain ash around them, but now, Boyd gives her a look she might find funny under vastly different circumstances.

“I haven’t- Besides the wolfs bane I used to subdue them with, I haven’t hurt them,” she promises. “Did you know about the alphas living above us?”

Her father sighs. “I’d heard about it, but I hadn’t gotten confirmation, yet.”

“Well, you have, now,” she offers.

“Okay. Sweetheart, why don’t you get the keys? I’ll drop them off at Derek’s.”

“Home,” Erica corrects. “I have a curfew.”

…

When her dad gets back, she has the living room back to the way it was.

“I helped you capture them,” he says. “The three of us all agreed to go after them. It wasn’t you alone, Allison. I told myself it was for a good reason.”

“This isn’t about what happened. What I did. I couldn’t let them get themselves killed,” she responds. “Before Mom- I went against all of you to protect them, and when I had to fight them, it was proportional.”

“You don’t understand.” He reaches over, and she lets him pull her into a hug. “When I got here, you said, ‘I had a good reason this time.’ I don’t want you to keep bearing the burden of what we did. I know you won’t like hearing this, but you were a grief-stricken seventeen-year-old, and your grandfather and I took advantage of that.”

 _You don’t get to shift this onto you_ , she thinks.

Breaking away, she says, “You haven’t always been a good father. But I haven’t always been a good daughter, either. I’m old enough that you can’t stop me from leaving. I’ll focus on a normal life after I make sure the others are safe.”

He swallows. “Okay. However, I do pay the rent here, and I don’t want any werewolves inside my apartment.”

“Okay,” she echoes. Then, taking a breath, she says, “I still have a lot to learn. If you wanted to teach me, maybe, we could both do things right this time.”

“I’ll think about it,” is his only response.

…

After telling Lydia about her upcoming camping trip, she offers, “You could come.”

“Pass. I’m sure you’ll learn more about killing evil supernatural things without my presence.”

“It’s not just that,” she protests. “Last week, my dad taught me-”

She pauses when she sees Erica come into the cafeteria.

Even as she’s telling herself it’s fine, she tenses.

Boyd and Erica have eased off the twins. Erica’s class could have been let out early today like Lydia’s was, or she could have just decided she wanted to see her boyfriend during lunch. Whether she’s skipping or not, Allison doesn’t particularly care, but she can’t shake the feeling something bigger is happening. 

Erica goes to the table Boyd and Isaac sit at, and watching them, Allison knows definitively something is going on. She’s seen how Erica and Boyd usually react when the other appears; it’s achingly sweet and produces a goofily happy feeling in bystanders.

Now, Boyd pulls back so Erica can sit on his lap, and they both look grim as they talk to Isaac.

Following their eyes, she sees one of the twins sitting down with his lunch.

“It doesn’t mean they’re going to do anything,” Lydia says with a gentle kick under the table. “She probably just came to make sure the cafeteria food doesn’t give Boyd an upset stomach.”

Looking down at the tray in front of Boyd, Allison sees he has the standard cafeteria meal rather than the usual lunch Erica makes for both Boyd and Isaac.

Isaac went with the chicken tacos. Either someone loaned him the money, or he knew he needed to get some from Mrs McCall.

Just as it clicks in her mind, the twin is convulsing on the floor.

Immediately, Scott is by his side, holding his hand, and trying to keep everyone away.

She starts to go over to help, but the other twin runs in, and Boyd and Erica force him out of the cafeteria.

Hoping Scott can keep the sick twin from shifting or hurting someone, she goes after the others.

…

Struggling to move, Boyd is slumped on the floor with large gashes covering his body.

Erica has been pinned to the ground, and she and the twin both have their claws against the other’s throat.  

Pushing his shoulder, Allison orders Boyd, “Stay.”

She walks over. “Let her go, or I’ll personally kill your brother.”

“He’s already dying,” he answers. “The bitch wants to kill us? We’re taking her with us.”

Erica’s claws starts to push into his throat.

“Erica! Erica- no. N-no. Boyd, think of Boyd. If the other s-survives, he’ll go a-after-”

She feels a hand on her shoulder, the shaking steadies, and she can’t stop her tears.

Suddenly, Derek is standing by the two, and reaching down, he sinks his claws into the twin’s back. With red eyes, he says, “Erica."

“No,” she snaps, and her claws start to sink deeper into the twin’s neck.

“This is getting tedious,” Lydia announces.

I should check Lydia for newfound moon sensitivity, she thinks somewhat hysterically.

Lydia strides over, smacks the twin on the back of the head, and then, sprays something on Erica’s hands. Reaching down and ignoring Erica’s growls, she carefully pries the hands away. “Aiden, Ethan’s going to be fine. Erica, I will spray this in your face if you don’t let him go.” 

She nods at Derek.

He tosses Aiden across the room.

…

After Aiden is gone, Erica lays into Derek and Lydia.

Allison kneels down next to Boyd. “Hey. Are you- What can I do?”

He’s looking at Erica, and she instinctively knows he’s close to having a breakdown. “Boyd, listen to me. I know. I’ve felt the same way when it came to Scott, but you need to-”

She falls on her bottom when he pushes her away and disappears out of the classroom.

Derek leaves, and Erica and Lydia continue arguing.

“Is that supposed to scare me,” Lydia inquires. “How many times did you fail in killing me? You ruined my lunch, and therefore, you get no antidote.”

“I have a chemistry test today!”

“Well, you should have thought of that before you decided to drag your boyfriend on what was clearly a suicide mission."

“It wasn’t a-”

As Lydia crosses her arms and taps her foot, Allison realises in amazement the girl who once needed protection is effortlessly holding her own against a severely angry, impulse-challenged werewolf.

…

Once Lydia has given Erica the antidote so she can move her hands again, (“I analysed the venom Jackson produced when he was the kanima and recreated a milder, more localised version”), Allison goes outside to get some air and ends up at the bleachers.

Pausing, she sees Derek and Boyd.

Derek is standing, and on the ground, a still bleeding Boyd is hyperventilating and digging his claws into the ground.

 _Do something_ , she wants to scream at Derek, but the realisation she herself has no idea what to do stops her.

“I’ve got it,” Stiles says.

She wonders if putting bells on her friends would be helpful in her not having a heart attack before she turns eighteen.

Walking over, she sits down across from Boyd. She can’t hear what they say, but to her disbelief, they have what appears to be a calm discussion.

Eventually, he wraps his hand around Boyd’s wrist.

The claws disappear.

…

“What did you do?”

“I talked to him,” Stiles answers.

She gives him a look.

Huffing, he dangles his feet from off the bleachers. “When my mom died, I had panic attacks. I just- it’s not that hard, dealing with someone else’s.”

“How did you know?”

“Lydia and Scott texted me.”

She sighs.

“Hey. Are you alright?”

“I’d be better if I could figure out what to do. I know I’m one of their least favourite people, but I do care about them.”

“Yeah. I get it. No, really, I do,” he says when she opens her mouth. “I’ve known Boyd all my life. Or I guess, more accurately, I’ve been around him all my life. And I’ve always been this annoying, hyperactive kid whose dad- But yeah, he hates me. And Erica-”

He sighs. “I don’t want to see them dead. You know, there are more than just the twins and Deucalion. There’s two more. They aren’t going to be able to take them all. Not by themselves.”

“I’m sorry for what I did to them and for what Gerard did to you,” she says.

“I lost my mom,” he replies. “I didn’t have a psychopath manipulating me, and I did have crippling panic attacks and my dad to worry about. But do you really think there wasn’t a risk of me going to the dark side? You don’t have to defend yourself or apologise to me, okay? What happened with Boyd and Erica is between you and them, and I swear to God, I’m going to- I don’t know, do something suitably badass and unpleasant, if you try to take responsibility for your evil, insane granddad.”

“Okay.” She finds herself laughing. When it subsides, she says, “Thank you.”

He grins. “No problem."

…

Erica isn’t at school the next day.

During lunch, she asks, “Boyd, where is she? Where’s Erica?”

He shrugs.

“Boyd,” Scott says, “you know that we care about her, too. If she’s-” 

“I don’t know where she is,” Boyd almost growls. He looks up with flashing eyes.

“But you know she’s up to something,” Scott says. “Do you know what?”

Boyd doesn’t answer, and Isaac orders, “Call her. Boyd, you know she’ll come if you-”

“No, she won’t,” is the flat reply. “We had a fight. I don’t even know if-” He looks down.

Leaving, she calls her dad and gets his voicemail.

“Hey, Dad, something’s come up, and I have to leave school. But I’m fine; don’t worry. We’ll talk later, okay?”

At the apartment, she tenses when she opens the door and finds the inside in shambles.

“Allison,” her dad calls, and she rushes towards her voice.

He has claw and bite marks on him.

Pulling her into a careful hug, he assures her, “It’s okay, sweetheart.”

A person doesn’t change right away. I can deal with what to do when he does, if he does, she thinks. The best way to restrain a human, she remembers, is...

“You- what happened? Tell me those aren’t from a werewolf."

“A beta,” he answers. “They’re just going to hurt like hell until they heal.”

“What happened? Who did this,” she demands.

Then, a horrible thought strikes her, and the look in his eyes confirms it.

“Erica did this.”

“She wanted our bestiary,” he says. “She didn’t expect me to be home.”

Shaking, she takes a deep breath. “You- you need to sit down. I’ll get the first aid kit.”

“Allison-”

“You’re swaying on your feet,” she snaps. “Sit down, Dad. I’ll get the first aid kit, and then, we can start cleaning up everything else.”

 …

“Where’s Derek?”

Peter gives her a look she can’t quite decipher. “All he told me was he'd be out for several hours.”

“Has Erica been around?”

“She was here this morning,” he answers. “She’s not here, now, but you’re welcome to look around.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“Until very recently, I was under the belief she was at school.”

“No. She attacked my father. Derek needs to do something about her before she either gets herself killed or we have to.”

He makes a low sound. “Unfortunately, it’ll be one of those. Neither she or Boyd accepts Derek as their alpha, and he learned his lesson with Scott about interfering in the lives of omegas.”

“You know,” she says, “I’m not like Scott or my dad. I wouldn’t accept the bite, but I don’t see anything wrong with people, given the choice, accepting it. I want you to understand that, so that you can understand exactly where I’m coming from when I say this: Derek bit them. I hold some of the blame for them being kidnapped. If I hadn’t hunted them down, they might have been able to get out of Beacon Hills safely. But he bit them so that he could create an army of child soldiers. If they get killed by the alphas, I will come after your nephew, and just like I helped kill you, I’ll kill him.”

“Noted,” is his response. “I’ll be sure to give him the message.”

She takes a breath, closes her eyes, and counts to ten. When she reopens them, she asks, “Do you even care about them at all?”

“Yes,” he answers. “But I’m also aware than most how true, ‘You can only save those who are aware they need saving and are willing to embrace those willing to save them,’ is.”

“There has to be a way to make them see,” she mutters.

“Far be from me to get dragged into this drama,” he drawls, “but tell me, if Derek suddenly inserted himself into your life and insisted that you going after someone was too dangerous to handle alone, how would you take it?”

She fidgets.

Even before her mother died, she didn’t take kindly to Derek trying to do this to Scott and, by extension, her and Stiles. However, she feels compelled to say, “If Scott backed him, I’d try to, at least, listen.”

“Ah, but they have no use for Scott,” he points out. “And in Isaac’s case, he was never in that vault. He chose Scott.”

“Right. In this one thing, my father and a number of werewolves actually agree on something. Another case of, ‘You shouldn’t even bother.’ Well, screw that. I owe them. Not because of what I did. Whether they hate me or not, that doesn’t stop my responsibility to protect those who can’t protect themselves.”

Sitting down, he props his feet up on the coffee table. “It must be nice to have that clarity.”  

“What do you mean?”

“To know what you did wrong, why you did, and what you need to do for your own peace of my mind.”

“Is this your way of calling what I’m doing selfish?"

He looks at her with what she thinks might be genuine surprise. “No. You know who you are, Allison. That’s all I meant.”

“And you don’t think Erica and Boyd do?”

“What I know is that they were self-esteem deprived adolescents who were seduced by this mysterious, handsome, powerful, young man into a world where they thought everything would be wonderful. When he told them to kill a classmate, they didn’t hesitate. When they finally realised he’d made promises that couldn’t be cashed, they left, only to realise what real torture and suffering was. I imagine they’re questioning every decision they’ve made since receiving the bite, and add that to dealing with the effects of all that’s happened to them-” He trails off.

“Well,” he says, “it’s not as if sitting on them is an option.”

“Sitting on them,” she repeats.

He laughs. “It was something Laura and Derek used to do to one another. When they wanted the other to admit something, they’d sit on them until they did so.”

“Have they talked about what happened in the vault?”

“Not to us,” he answers.

She once read about how coaches and drill sergeants often break people down, and then, build them back up. The thought has always discomfited her, and now, with what she did, it does even more. Yet, she still finds herself wondering if she can press the right buttons to make Erica- not break, no, but to get everything out.

Maybe then, Erica will see she and Boyd need to work with the others and not take action against the alphas until there’s a solid plan in place.

“I don’t know why I did what I did,” Allison confesses. “My mother’s death played a part, but it wasn’t the only thing. There’s more involved that I don’t understand.”

Shrugging, he gives her a look she’d almost classify as sympathy. “The mere fact you understand that puts you above the rest of us.”

…

Erica’s parents are divorced, and she lives with her mom most of the time.

“It’s very sweet of you to bring Erica her homework,” Mrs Reyes says. “Would you care for something to drink? Or some raspberry white almond cookies?”

“No, thank you,” she answers.

“I’ll see if she’s awake. I’m sorry, but if she isn’t, you won’t be able to visit with her tonight.”

“That’s fine,” Allison assures her.  

To her surprise, Erica doesn’t pretend to be asleep and appears with her mother in the living room. “Boyd told me you might come,” she says, and Allison is grateful for all three of their sakes she manages to sound incredibly neutral. “Mama, is it okay if Allison and I talk in my room?”

“Of course, mi angel,” Mrs Reyes answers. “Remember to thank her." She kisses Erica on the forehead.

Following Erica, she resists the urge to ask how Mrs Reyes took Erica’s reappearance. Is it something they never talk about, or does Mrs Reyes try to keep track of her daughter 24/7?

…

Allison stares in surprise.

Erica’s room is how she half-expected Stiles’s to look. There are Sci-fi movie and TV posters all over the walls, there’s comic books scattered across the room, a celestial globe on Erica’s desk, Batman sheets on the bed, and on the ceiling, glow-in-the-dark star stickers.

Standing in such a room, it hits Allison stronger than ever how much she doesn’t know about Erica.

She’d never particularly thought about Erica pre-bite, and after the bite, even with Lydia as her best friend, she’d assumed, with Erica dressed in a miniskirt and low-cut top with heels and expertly applied makeup, Erica didn’t have much going on besides her beauty and new abilities.

Now, suddenly, her attempted seduction of both Scott and Stiles takes on a different light. It might have been just more than a desire to cause friction, Allison realises. If the room is any indication, she has a lot more in common with both of them, especially Stiles, than anyone realised.

Pushing away those thoughts, she looks over at Erica. “Okay. If you want me to leave you and Boyd alone, fine. Get yourself killed, if you’re so determined. But come near my father, again, and I’ll aim my arrows right at your heart. Boyd’s, too, if he comes near him.”

Erica rolls her eyes. “Going after the bestiary had nothing to do with you.”

Taking a breath, she orders, “Catch.”

Erica looks down at the flash-drive in puzzlement.

“You have it. Stay the hell away from my apartment and dad.” She starts to turn.

“Just like that.”

“Just like that,” she confirms. “Do whatever you want with it.”

“There’s always a catch,” Erica insists.

“Goodbye, Erica."

“Frell you!”

The words bewilder her, and Erica’s challenging, defiant look does nothing to help.

“Are you missing a ‘to’ and ‘with’,” she inquires. “Or did I mishear something?”

Erica gives her a look she’s used to seeing on Stiles when no one knows what he’s talking about. “‘Frell’,” she says. “Not hell. I just told you to-” She looks at the door in such a way realisation hits Allison.

“Oh,” she says. Unable to help herself, despite realising this isn’t likely the most appropriate reaction to having such a sentiment thrown at her, she finds herself smiling. “But it really sounds like-”

“It’s from Farscape,” Erica grits out with her eyes flashing.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it."

“Until I got the bite, I hadn’t, either, but that didn’t stop me from reading reviews and recaps of it,” Erica snaps. “It’s one of the most important-”

There’s a knock on the door. “Erica, baby, are you and Allison alright?”

“Fine, Mama,” Erica calls. “We’re just having a friendly debate on the linguistics of Farscape vs. Battlestar Galactica.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” is Mrs Reyes’s amused, fond response.

They wait for her footsteps to fall away.

“Obviously, I’m winning,” Erica mutters.

Allison doesn’t bother protesting their non-existent debate is unfairly stacked due to the fact Erica is a fan, whereas, Allison hadn’t even heard of one of the shows until five minutes ago and has heard of but never seen the other. She’s not sure if it constitutes irony or not, but if Erica had used ‘frak’ instead of ‘frell’, she would have known exactly what was being hurled at her.

“Forget what you did,” Erica says. “Do you know exactly what the alphas did to us?”

“No,” she answers. “Tell me.”

Erica hesitates, and Allison refuses to let herself look away.

“They kept us locked away in tiny vault for over four months,” Erica says. She begins shifting. “Do you know how we went to the bathroom? There’s was a corner we used. We’d go for days without food. There was no light. Whenever Boyd tried to sleep, if I didn’t literally lie on top of him, he’d end up clawing himself. My seizures came back. And they kept trying to get us to fight each other. They said that, if one of us died, the one who didn’t could go free.”

Refusing to look away, Allison takes another breath and prays she doesn’t start crying. “Now, not forgetting what I did, I’m part of the reason you ended up there. I did horrible things to you and him. I’m not asking you to clear my conscience, but I want you to know I am sorry. I don’t want either of you hurt.”

Erica’s human features return. “I wanted to kill you right away. But I have to make the alphas pay. Once I do, I’ll go after you and your father. I’ll find out where Gerard is, and then, I’ll kill you. Or I’ll die trying.”

Sitting on her bed, Erica continues, “Personally, I like to believe that justice will prevail. If I die, you and your goody-goody boyfriend and your father and your psycho grandfather were all in the right. I’m just some- creature that never should have been made. Scott shouldn’t have caught me when I fell in gym. If I don’t, you won’t always have them and your arrows and wolfs bane to protect you.”

Scoffing, Allison asks, “And where does Boyd come in?”

Erica growls.

“He’s breaking, Erica. We can all see it. Either he’s going to come to his senses, break everything off with you, and probably have to watch as you’re buried, or he’s going to go along with you. Even then, maybe, he won’t die. He’ll just spend the rest of his life dealing with the consequences of staying with the girl he loves.”

“Goodbye, Allison.”

She reaches over for the doorknob. “Personally, no matter how good of a plan you two come up with, I don’t think you have a chance in hell of taking down five alphas. Justice won’t be served.”

Leaving, she flinches when something hits the door.

…

When she gets back to the apartment, Lydia tells her, “Your dad’s sleeping in his room, and there’s some lasagne for you in the fridge.”

“Thanks for coming over.”

“It’s not a problem. But you should know that you don’t need me to continue babysitting him. I’ve run numerous tests, and I can safely assure you that he’s still completely human.”

“You experimented on my dad.” Sighing, she flops down on the couch.

“I did it for your peace of mind, sweetie.”

“Right, and how did you convince him to let you do this?”

“It was either let me run the tests or submit to my china pattern quiz,” Lydia answers. 

“Thank you.”

…

The next day, she finds herself back in the abandoned bank with her knife clutched tightly. “Dad,” she calls.

“In here, sweetheart!”

“What are we doing here?"

Then, she sees. “Oh.”

In the vault, Erica is lying on the ground and twitching against their flashlights.

“I think she has a fever,” her dad says, “but she won’t let me get close enough to tell.”

She starts to walk over, and he grabs her arm. Shaking him off, she orders, “Let me try.”

Carefully, she walks over and kneels down close to Erica. She’s relieved to see there aren’t any physical wounds on her but uneasy at the flushed skin and glazed eyes. “Hey, Erica. Do you know who I am?”

There’s no answer, and slowly, she reaches out to place her hand on Erica’s forehead.

Erica butts her head against the hand, but Allison is more concerned with how heated the skin is than with trying to interpret the reaction.

“You have a fever,” she continues. “You need to let my dad pick you up, okay? I promise we won’t hurt you.”

…

In the kitchen, her dad talks to Mrs Reyes on the phone.

Sitting down on the couch bed, she puts an ice pack on Erica’s head. 

“Boyd,” Erica moans. She grabs Allison’s arm.

“Erica, please, let go.”

“Boyd. Please, Allison, give him back. Please.”

“Sh.” She gingerly extracts her arm. “Boyd will be here soon, I promise.”

“Please, Allison, give him back to me,” Erica continues with her body making odd movements. “I love him, even if he doesn’t love me. Give him back, please.”

“Boyd loves you, Erica."

“He won’t,” Erica murmurs in such a way it makes Allison’s heart to ache. “Not once he knows.”

She briefly considers trying to coax more out of Erica, but she knows it would be wrong to use Erica’s fevered, delusional state to get personal information.

“Boyd will be here soon,” she reiterates.

…

As soon as Boyd arrives, he immediately sits down on the couch bed, puts Erica’s head in his lap, and wraps one of his hands around one of hers. “What happened?"

“My dad found her in the vault,” she answers. “She was awake, earlier, but she wasn’t very coherent. I’m not sure how much she understood about where she was and what was happening.”

He closes his eyes, and they sit in silence until she realises there are subtle veins pulsing on his arms. “What- Are you doing something?"

“He’s taking the pain from her body into his own,” her father says.

The ability to cause heart problems is obviously transmitted to anyone bitten by any werewolf, she decides.

“Is that safe? Does it hurt?”

Boyd gives a half-shrug.

“I don’t know whether it’s safe or not,” her father answers in a tone she’s not sure how to place, “but yes, it definitely hurts.”

“Not too much,” Boyd responds.

She remembers how his eyes had turned yellow when she’d kept shooting him, but other than this and growling, he’d given little reaction; he’d barely even swayed. 

Suddenly, memories of times when she’d been in pain and it’d subsided quicker than it realistically should have hit her. It had never been dramatic. She’d just attributed it to luck and her high tolerance for pain. However, looking back, there’s one consistent element to all those times.

“I’m going to kill Scott,” she declares.

Boyd gives her an amused look before looking back down at Erica.

The doorbell rings.

“I’ll get,” she says.

…

It’s Scott.

“Hey,” she says.  “Thank you for coming over.”

“No problem.” With a frown crossing his face, he asks, “What happened?”

Looking down at her arm, she sees a bruise. “It’s fine. Scott, Erica didn’t know what she was doing. She’s literally burning up.”

“Okay,” he agrees.

Taking his hand, she leads him into the living room, and she can almost physically feel the bad feelings drain out of him as he takes in Erica and Boyd. 

Walking over, he kneels down and takes off the ice pack. “Boyd, you need to let go of her hand. Just for a minute. I need to feel how bad the fever is on its own.”

A few seconds after Boyd lets go, Erica begins thrashing. Scott presses his wrist against her forehead.

Sighing, he moves away, and Boyd immediately retakes Erica’s hand.

“What is it,” she asks.

“Is it okay if I call my boss and have him come over?"

“Yes, that’ll be fine,” her dad answers.

“Deaton,” Boyd says. “He’s Morrell’s brother.”

“Boyd, I swear to you, he’s not going to hurt Erica. Whatever’s going on with Ms Morrell, he’s on our side.”

“We’re not on your side,” Boyd points out.

“You are right now. That’s why you haven’t already taken her and left. You may not trust us completely, but you do know that we care about her. I swear,” he repeats. “Deaton won’t hurt her.”

“Okay,” Boyd agrees.

Nodding, Scott squeezes his knee before standing back up.

Turning, he starts to get his cell phone out.

Walking over, she hugs him, and when she lets go, he’s smiling. “What’s that for?”

Kissing his cheek, she answers, “For being you.”

…

Scott keeps a tight hold on Boyd’s shoulder when Deaton sits down on the couch bed and uses one of those no-touch, scanning thermometers on Erica. After reading the result, he moves, shakes her slightly, and says, “Erica, you need to wake up.”

Making odd sounds, she slowly opens her eyes and sighs when they land on Boyd.

“Erica, do you know where you are?”

“Not the basement.” She rubs her wrists.

Allison hears her father take a sharp breath, and she goes over to hold his hand.

“Do you know what you’re doing here?”

There’s no answer.

“Earlier, you were in the vault the alphas held you hostage in,” Deaton says. “Do you know what you were doing there?”

“Have to,” Erica answers.

“What did you have to do, Erica?”

“Let go,” she tells him.

Deaton nods. “I’m going to take your temperature, again. Be still for me.”

Once he has and begins to put the thermometer up, Erica says, “I know that.”

Allison sees Erica’s looking at a symbol on Deaton’s medical bag.

“You do?”

“It’s- symbol of healing,” she slurs. “One of the knights-” She trails off.

“Yes. You’re a fan of Arthurian lore?”

Shaking her hand, she looks at Boyd. “He’s Lancelet. And I’m his Guinevere.”

Boyd gives an adorably soft, almost goofy smile.

Unfortunately, it fades away too quickly.

“Yes.” Deaton strokes her hair. “Try to get some sleep, Erica.”

Standing up, he turns to her and the others. “I’m hesitant to give her anything. From what I can gather, the fever is a physical reaction to undealt with emotional trauma and all the stress she’s been under. Boyd, I think it would be best if I helped you move her. For right now, the best thing would be to keep her comfortable, in an environment she feels safe in, but taking her home-”

“Does she feel safe here,” her dad inquires.

“I’d say as long as Boyd is here and does, yes. He seems to be her anchor.”

“Then, it’s probably best you two stay for the time being.”

Deaton leads a protesting Boyd to another room.

Wiping her eyes, Allison hugs her dad tightly.

…

After Deaton and Scott are gone, she and her dad make supper.

“What were you doing at the bank?"

He sighs. “Sweetheart, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What,” she demands. “I thought we agreed: no more secrets.”

“We did. When were you planning to tell me about your role in breaking the two out of the vault and trapping them in the school?”

“The same time you did,” she answers.

“Beacon Hills runs on currents. They’re-”

“I know. Danny, a boy in my science class, did a report on them.”

“I had reason to believe something or someone, worse than the alphas, was going to come here. I also have reason to believe the currents will play a part in things. I’m not sure what the threat is or when it will strike, but I trust the information. The bank is one of the places the currents run through.”

“And you’ve been doing routine checks on all the hotspots,” she concludes.

“Yes.”

“Okay,” she says. “From now on, I’m in.”

“Allison-”

“I don’t agree with the code. I mean- I agree with the part that says my ex-boyfriend and other innocent teenagers shouldn’t be hurt. I agree with the part that utterly condemns what Kate did. But hunting those who hunt us shouldn’t be the focus. Most people will protect themselves against threats. There are people who can’t, though, and they’re the reason we should go after certain werewolves and other things, things like Jackson. I want to protect people who can’t protect themselves, even if they’re werewolves or something else. The code should have been one that made it clear what we did to Erica and Boyd was a complete violation.”

She waits for his reaction.

Giving her a sad smile, he pulls her into a hug and presses a kiss against her head. “Okay. I wish your mother were here. She’d be as proud of you as I am.” 

…

After dinner, Boyd and her dad get into a mostly friendly debate about Lancelot and Guinevere’s relationship.

Aside from one instance where Erica gains enough lucidity to inform everyone, “I can put my hair up with pencils. It’s harder to do with straight hair. They should cast more women with hair like mine, because Guinevere wouldn’t wear her hair down in public, would she, Boyd?” Allison tries her best to tune them out as she does her homework.

Although, she does smile at Boyd’s earnest, “No, she wouldn’t. I’ve always imagined her with beautiful, blonde hair, like yours.”

The doorbell rings again, and she quickly says, “I’ll get it.”

Seeing Isaac, she says, “Oh, good. Come in, and if you value your life, keep any opinions you have on Arthurian folklore to yourself.”     

“Uh, okay,” he agrees. “I can definitely do that. Especially considering I don’t really have any, aside from liking that Disney movie when I was little.”

To Boyd, he says, “Hey.” He holds up a bag. “I brought some stuff for lemon tea. Why don’t you go make some while I sit with her?”

“I’ll do it.” Her dad starts to stand, but Isaac shakes his head.

“No,” he says. “Boyd, I know how much it hurts, doing that. Take a five-minute break and make the tea. I’ll sit with her.”

Manoeuvring himself off the couch, Boyd stumbles slightly when he walks.

Sitting down on the sofa bed, Isaac puts his hand on Erica’s forehead and winces when it makes contact. Soon, black veins appear on his arm, and he gasps as he closes his eyes and tries to control his breathing.

She’s relieved when he moves his hand off.

Blinking up at him, Erica tries to raise her arm but doesn’t succeed.

“Here.” Getting Erica into a sitting position, he guides one of her hands to his hair, and her fingers sink into his curls. “How are you doing?”

“No therapy for werewolves,” she mutters.

Isaac makes a small sound.

Boyd comes in with the tea, but before he can sit down, Erica is suddenly making her way over to Allison.

Taking a breath, she braces herself. _She’s feverish. Do what you have to, to protect yourself, but don’t hurt her_ , she tells herself. “Erica, is-”

Hands are on her shoulders, and she sees her father bracing himself and Boyd looking between them and her father.

Suddenly, Erica’s nose is against her neck.

Erica’s nose is against her neck, and Erica is inhaling and rubbing her nose against it. Pulling back, she declares, “Mine,” let’s go of Allison, and wanders back over to Boyd.

“I don’t know,” Boyd automatically says. Sitting down, he brings the tea up to Erica’s lips.

“Yeah, uh, she did that to us, but I don’t think she’s ever done it to a human,” Isaac says.

“Sweetheart,” her dad says.

“I’m fine,” she assures him. “She didn’t come close to hurting me. Did she do that to Scott, too?"

“Not that we know of,” Isaac answers. “I don’t think she did to Peter, either.”

Boyd reaches over to where Erica’s cell phone is on the coffee table. 

“Not Erica,” Boyd says into the phone, “and I don’t want to know. Can you come over to the Argent’s house?”

…

When Stiles arrives, Boyd shakes a dozing Erica awake. “Hey.” He turns her head so she can see Stiles.

Erica starts making her way over, and Allison slips her fingers through Stiles’s. “Just be still."

After repeating her performance, Erica goes back over to Boyd.

“Okay,” Stiles says. “On the positive side, my absolute terror won out, and I didn’t have to try to think of unpleasant things. On the other side of what in the holy hell just happened, uh, was I just, like, claimed by a werewolf? Because, I kind of have a girlfriend, and Erica can completely kick my ass, and again, what in the name of-”

Boyd sighs.

She tries to figure out the girlfriend statement until she remembers Scott telling her about a party he and Stiles went to. It was the birthday party of a girl Stiles knew when he was little, and apparently, they hit it off, although, so far, it hasn’t gotten serious enough Stiles has brought her along to hang out with him and Scott.

“No,” Erica says. Extracting her hand from Boyd’s, she snuggles against him. “Fine right now.”

“Okay." He kisses her forehead, manoeuvres her body into a more comfortable position, and gives Stiles a look. “She has a boyfriend.”

“And how and why would that keep her from deciding to enslave humanity? See, the thing is, you tend to not care what she does as long as she’s happy. Which, in theory, great philosophy! More people should adopt it in regards to their significant others, but Peter thinks she has potential. In addition, Peter is still kind of psychotic. And again, I bring up my kind of girlfriend, and how I would really like to do a lot more than the completely awesome things I’ve already gotten to do, and how I can’t do that if Buffy the Werewolf, Human Enslaver here kicks my ass and forces me to do horrible, unimaginable things.”

Leading Stiles to a chair, she suggests, “Why don’t you have some tea?”

“That might be a good idea,” he agrees. He looks back at Erica. “Is- is she okay? Because, now that the terror and everything else has waned, I realise that she seemed kind of feverishly warm.”

…

After Stiles and Isaac leave, she helps get Boyd and Erica settled on the sofa bed.

Boyd is falling asleep by the time she’s gotten two glasses of water, and Erica is curled up on top of him.

She sets the glasses on the table.

Setting some blankets on the couch, her dad promises, “They should be fine.”

…

In the morning, she finds the couch put back to normal and her dad making breakfast.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. They left sometime last night.”

Sighing, she shrugs and starts to help with breakfast.

When she was little, despite always pushing her to try her hardest, her mother once told her, “You can only do so much, Allison.” She doesn’t remember the circumstances behind those words, but she can see and hear her mother clearly saying them.

She just hopes she’s done enough.

…

Two days later, she finds herself looking at a flash drive on top of her math textbook in the library.

Looking up, she sees Erica sitting across from her.

“I’ll make this quick,” Erica says. “I shouldn’t have tried to kill Lydia or seduce Scott or knock Stiles out and leave him in a dumpster. I’m sure there’s more, including that time I spilt coffee on your mom’s white blouse, but in general, I was a bitch. Maybe, someday, I’ll apologise for all that, but not today.”

She starts to answer, but Erica continues, “I will say: Thank you, and I owe you. You’ve been looking out for us since we got out, and the day before yesterday, at best, you could have left me in that vault, and at worst, you could have done horrible things to me. So, thank you."

“I-”’

Erica continues, “I don’t know if Isaac or Scott will be there, but we’re meeting Derek and Peter tonight at Derek’s loft to plan how to take down the alphas. Whether you come or not, as long as you don’t hurt us, we’ll leave you and your friends and family alone. And you don’t have to worry about us hurting any other humans. See you around.”

She walks away.

…

The first thing she notices is Erica is hanging upside down from one of the rafters.

“Erica, give it back,” Scott insists. “Don’t make me come there!”

“Yeah,” Stiles tells her, “if you receive any weird, inappropriate, or just creepy texts from Scott, do yourself a favour and delete them.”

“She stole his cell phone?”

“She can hear you,” Erica informs her. “And he implied that I couldn’t appreciate Sci-fi like Stiles could.”

“Did you,” she asks Scott.

Though she doesn’t condone phone stealing, he’s usually one of the least sexist boys she knows, and if he did, she can’t help but be disappointed.

“No! Not on purpose, at least,” he says. “I just meant- Okay, look, I don’t know how to jump up there. I’m sorry. Would you please give me my phone back, Erica?”

Boyd comes in, and as Scott catches his cell phone, Boyd catches Erica.    

Derek sighs in exasperation, and she realises, after her heart has calmed down, he’s sitting on the stairs and watching the proceedings. “Is your dad coming?”

“He can, if you’re willing to work with him,” she answers. “I told him what I was doing.”

From her place in Boyd's lap, Erica says, “I need a list of his allergies if he’s coming."

“He doesn’t have any food allergies. Where’s Isaac?"

“He’ll be here soon. He’s picking Mom up from the hospital,” Scott answers.

…

“Allison, sweetheart, wake up.” She feels someone shaking her.

“Dad?”

“I’m sorry to get you up, but I think Lydia could really use you right now.”

“Lydia,” she repeats with a yawn. Waking up some more, she asks, “Is Lydia okay?”

“She’s in the living room.”

Once she’s gotten some caffeine in her, she finds herself sitting next to an unusually subdued Lydia. “It’s okay.” She reaches over to take her hand. “Do you want to talk, or do you want to just sit here?”

“Sorry for getting you and your dad up so late.”

“It’s okay."

“It’s happening again,” Lydia says in such a way Allison feels chills down her spine.

“What? What’s happening again?”

“I woke up screaming,” Lydia says. “I don’t know why. And then, without knowing how or why, I found a dead body. Stiles yelled at me for not calling him first. But Peter’s alive, and- I don’t want to be crazy, again.”

Squeezing Lydia’s hand, she says, “You’re not crazy. I promise, we’ll figure out what happened and why.”

“Something’s coming. I can feel it.”

“Then, we’ll handle it.”

“Don’t keep me in the dark again,” Lydia orders. “I can’t stand feeling like that again.”

“Hey.” She pulls Lydia into a hug. “I promise we won’t. I don’t know what’s happening or what might be coming, but I’ll protect you. Better this time.”

Nodding, Lydia snuggles closer.

“Do you want to tell me about it? Where was it? Who was the dead body?”

By the time Lydia’s finished, Allison knows, in the morning, they need to talk to her dad. For now, she gets Lydia safely tucked into bed before going to the bathroom.

Finding herself looking in the mirror, she closes her eyes.

Even though she’s all alone, she can almost imagine her mother standing in the room with her. Putting the lid down, she sits on the toilet and sees her mother sitting down on the edge of the bathtub. “Why should you always remember what you did, Allison?”

“Because, it was wrong. I crossed lines that never should have been crossed.”

“Yes. Now, why do you need to reconcile what you did with the warrior you’re meant to be?”

“I don’t think I’m meant to be a warrior. And I don’t need to reconcile anything. I know I can’t use what I did as an excuse not to protect people.”

“You’re wrong. Allison, you are strong and powerful. You choose to use that power to help those who can’t help themselves. That’s a warrior. Sweetheart, whatever you think of what your father, grandfather, and I did, we knew we were right. We believed it. Whether a person is good or evil doesn’t matter. What matters is how they see themselves.”

“What do I do?”

“You keep the memory but toss away the guilt. You know what you did, and you know that it’s wrong. You’ve made up for it as best you can. Choose not to do it again and focus on doing what needs to be done.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

Her mother sighs. “Then, some of the people you care about the most will end up dead, either by the alphas or this new threat. A guilt-ridden, seventeen-year-old, little girl is of no use. They need a strong, wise woman.”

Wiping away the tears, she begs, “Help me. I don’t know what to do.”

“Stand up. Look in the mirror.”

She hesitates, and her mother barks, “Allison!”

Taking a deep breath, she stands up and looks at herself in the mirror.

“Everyone classifies everyone,” her mother says. “It’s unavoidable. You can only control other’s perception of you by so much. You can be whomever you want and do whatever want, Allison, as long as you’re not too scared or lazy. Now, who do you see?”

She looks, and at first, all she sees is her physical reflection.

Then, memories come.

She’s always been top gymnast in her class. If not for being held back, she thinks she could have been valedictorian. When she ran over a dog, she brought it to Scott. She helped Kate shoot Scoot. She helped when Erica had a seizure after gym class. She did all she could to help contain Jackson and protect people from him without killing him, and during this, she left her best friend to deal with severe mental problems on her own. She took down two powerful werewolves with just her arrows and held her own against another with her Chinese daggers. She helped contain two feral werewolves with minimal harm to them. She made disgusting sandwiches so Isaac could have some simple happiness. She finally and fully stood up to her father, and she wishes she had long ago.

“I see the person who’s going to protect my friends and the rest of this town,” she answers. “You’re right. I’m powerful, strong, and smart. And I’ve made mistakes, but I’m not going to let that stop me from being who I’ve always wanted to be. It’s time to start becoming that person.”

“Good. Don’t forget beautiful,” her mother says. “It’s not vanity to acknowledge all that you possess. Now, go to bed. You have a test tomorrow.”

Taking a steadying breath, she nods.

“Thank you,” she says to the empty room.

After washing her face, she goes to her room, and being careful not to disturb Lydia, climbs into bed.

She realises as she’s falling asleep a sense of peace she hasn’t felt in a long time is finally settling back over her.


End file.
